Quincy school van driver faces charges after driving student while drugged, police say

QUINCY – A  van driver taking a special-needs student to school in Quincy was arrested and charged with drugged driving after she rear-ended a car Wednesday morning.

Police say Stefanie Spacco, of Quincy, a driver with special-needs transportation company Mass Quality Ride, hit a car as she was driving near Sea Street and Southern Artery at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A caller told police that, before the crash, Spacco was crossing over the double yellow line into multiple lanes.

The caller told police she saw a young child in the vehicle and was concerned for his safety. After stopping Spacco, police said they performed field sobriety tests and she would "lose her balance and stumble" during the tests, a police report on file in Quincy District Court said.

Police said they found the muscle relaxer cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride on Spacco, as well as a bag of unidentified white powder, two pills, a vape and a Suboxone wrapper in the van.

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Spacco was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, possession of a Class A drug, possession of a Class E drug and reckless endangerment of a child. She was arraigned in Quincy District Court on Thursday and released without bail on the condition she remain drug free.

Spacco does not have any prior infractions on record in Quincy District Court.

Driver had student in van for over an hour

After Spacco's arrest, the elementary-age student was taken to Carney Hospital for evaluation. Police called his mother, who said he was picked up more than an hour earlier by Spacco for what should have been a 10-minute drive to the Lincoln-Hancock School. She also said the driver was an hour and a half late for the pickup.

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When asked where they went, the student told police his driver "kept getting lost trying to find Dunkin' Donuts" and, when she did find it, left him in the van to get a coffee. He also told police she left him in the van alone while she went into a barbershop and again while she knocked on several doors, the police report said.

The boy's mother told police the driver seemed "uneasy on her feet and jittery" when picking up the boy and that "in hindsight, she should have questioned putting (her son) on the bus," the police report said.

Driver not a Quincy school employee

When officers contacted the boy's school, the principal told them she has had "numerous issues with Mass Quality Ride due to not picking up students or forgetting to pick up students."

School Superintendent Kevin Mulvey said he spoke with the owner of the company after the incident, who "assured us that nothing like this will happen again."

"This particular driver's behavior was obviously very disturbing and she has been fired from Mass Quality," Mulvey said.

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In addition to their in-house bus drivers, Quincy Public Schools  hires two outside companies for help transporting students with special needs: Easton-based VHS Transportation and Mass Quality Ride, of Brockton. Mass Quality Ride transports 150 to 170 Quincy kids every day.

Mulvey said the schools will continue to work with the company.

"We don't really have too many options" when it comes to transportation, Mulvey said. "The problem with regards to transportation is pretty similar to what we are seeing here on the school side. We are having difficulty finding drivers. (Mass Quality Ride) is raising their pay, advertising everywhere and doing what they can to find quality drivers, just as we are."

Mulvey said the student returned to school Thursday.

An email to Mass Quality Ride bounced back Thursday, and a voicemail left in the main office was not returned.

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Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Quincy school van driver charged with driving student while impaired